"Did you notice me? I suppose... I was only passing by. I didn't expect to come across something this interesting."
From the shadowy railing came an unhurried girl's voice. Then... a short-haired girl wearing a heavenly crown and a white kimono was crouching atop the railing.
With both hands propping up her cheeks, she watched Seele and Asou Yuna.
"You are..."
Seele stepped slightly forward, shielding Asou Yuna behind her as she looked at the girl before them.
She definitely wasn't human, nor was she a yokai...
She seemed to be... a divine artifact that had been named by a god. No... she was different from the two divine artifacts Seele had seen before.
"Are you a god? Though you feel somewhat unusual."
The short-haired kimono girl did not answer Seele's question. Instead, she suddenly leaped down from the railing, landed in front of Seele, and calmly asked.
At that moment... Seele's eyes suddenly caught sight of the area beneath her neck, and a glimmer of understanding appeared in her gaze.
The kimono girl before them was dressed conservatively, but... two red characters were still visible beneath her neck. Seele immediately understood what kind of person she was.
"A stray..."
A stray was the general term for a divine artifact with multiple aliases. One could even say that having two names was enough to become a stray.
These aliases—these names—were names bestowed upon divine artifacts by gods. One name represented one user; two names meant two users.
Chapter 36: The Monster That Broke into the Shrine (2)
"Stray, what do you want with us?"
The gods of this world did not like strays, especially those with many names. Such strays were taboo among the gods, regarded as "lowly" beings.
Seele did not particularly like strays either, because they represented disloyalty.